Get my Cookbooks! Ground Beef Pasta
This Ground Beef Pasta recipe is an easy 30 minute meal that you can make with any kind of pasta. Your family will love the creamy, cheesy, Italian sauce!
Be sure to serve this with a side of Garlic Bread with Cheese!
Ground Beef Pasta
You know the Italian-style version of Hamburger Helper? This is about 60 times better than that, and literally takes the same amount of time to make.
Hamburger Helper looks tasty to me, but always comes up short. I promise, this ground beef pasta recipe does not disappoint. Once you try it, you’ll be making it all the time. I think my family eats it about once a week.
Easy ground beef recipes are the best. The ingredients in this one are super simple, so let’s start there:
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook and crumble the ground beef and onions. Drain grease. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, and flour. Stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. Bring a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook for 15 minutes while you start boiling water for the pasta. Boil the pasta for 7 minutes or per package instructions.
Slowly stir in the half and half to the sauce. Reduce heat to low and sprinkle in the cheese. Stir to combine.
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Pro Tips
- Shred the cheese first and set it aside along with the half and half, they shouldn’t be cold when added to the sauce.
- If possible, shred your cheese from a block, it melts and tastes better than packaged shredded cheese. I like to use Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Yellow.
- Penne, Rigatoni, Ziti, Bowtie, or Cavatappi are good pastas with this meal as well.
- Optional ingredient additions include drained diced tomatoes, frozen peas, carrots, and/or corn.
- Milk can be used instead of half and half, but the sauce won’t be quite as thick and creamy. Reduce the heat to low prior to adding to avoid curdling it, whole milk works best.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 136!
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Try These Next
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- Homemade Hamburger Helper
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- Chicken Scallopini
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- Swedish Meatballs
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- Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
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- Chicken Parmesan
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- Stuffed Bell Peppers
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Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ground Beef Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 + ½ lbs. ground beef, 85% lean
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons flour, optional-helps thicken the sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup half and half, (half cream, half milk)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ pound Rotini pasta
Instructions
- Shred the cheese and set it aside along with the half and half. We don’t want those to be cold when we add them to the sauce.
- Cook and crumble the ground beef over medium heat. Add the onions halfway through and cook until softened.
- Drain grease. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, and flour. Stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes to remove raw flour taste.
- Add chicken broth and use a silicone spatula to clean the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. Bring a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes while you start boiling water for the pasta. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 7 minutes or per package instructions.
- Slowly add in the half and half to the sauce, stirring as you go.
- Reduce heat to low and slowly sprinkle in the cheese. Stir to combine. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Notes
- If possible, shred your cheese from a block, it melts and tastes better than packaged shredded cheese. I like to use Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Yellow.
- Penne, Rigatoni, Ziti, Bowtie, or Cavatappi are good pastas with this meal as well.
- Optional ingredient additions: Drained diced tomatoes, frozen peas, carrots, and/or corn.
- Milk can be used instead of half and half, but the sauce won’t be quite as thick and creamy. Reduce the heat to low prior to adding to avoid curdling it, whole milk works best. Conversely, heavy cream may also be used.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 136!
Storage: Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Well, once again you did not disappoint! This was DELICIOUS!!! I write this as my husband continues to devour it! I have yet to make one of your recipes that wasn’t a hit—they are all soooo good!!! Thank you!!
That makes me so happy Beth!!! I love that you’re enjoying the recipes, thanks so much for your support!🩷
Thank you! Everybody loves it! I’m usually leary about googling recipes because, for real, most are awful. This was a huge hit, thanks again & I’ll be trying more of your recipes. Wish I could send a picture…
AWWWWW thank you Vickie!! I really think you’ll come to trust my recipes- I am so excited for you to try more, and I’m so glad that you loved this one! Thank you so much for the review!!
I love how creamy, flavorful, and simple this recipe is! I needed this recipe as a last minute option, and it delivered. I had some spinach on hand, so I added that. It was delicious!
I’m so happy to hear that Morgan! Thanks so much for the great review!💖
When freezing, how long do you reheat for when ready to eat?
You can microwave this to reheat it (I like to use the “melt” setting or use lower power to reheat it gradually.) You can also reheat it on a makeshift double boiler on the stovetop, but that’ll take longer. Finally, you can reheat it from a thawed state in the oven in a lightly greased, covered casserole dish at 350 for 20 minutes or so, (depending on how much you’re reheating). Use a dish relatively the same size as the portion you’re reheating to keep things moist!
Okay! Im kosher and don’t mix dairy with meat. So I substituted half and half with coconut milk and the cheddar I used was vegan. I don’t like the taste of flour so I used rice flour. It came out AMAZING!!!”
Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that you loved it Dana!! Thank you so much for sharing your variations!
I just noticed the recipe calls for half a pound of pasta but my package is a full pound, just making sure I only use half the box?
Hi Mary, yes, you’ll use half of the box. A full pound would make a ton 🙂
My guys love this recipe and I love that it gets me out of the kitchen quick. Thank you for sharing it with us.
You’re very welcome Michele! I’m so happy they’re enjoying it! Definitely a great weeknight recipe. Thanks so much for the great review!💖
For such a simple meal, it turned out very good. I didn’t add cream or milk to the recipe because I’ve been having issues with them ‘breaking’ during cooking. I just put sour cream on the side and that did the trick. I will be making this again.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! To help mitigate the curdling issues that you’re having, make sure that you don’t add cold dairy to a super hot base or bring it to a boil too quickly, otherwise the dairy will separate from extreme heat changes. ❤️ Full fat dairy doesn’t curdle as easily as well.
Can I do this in a crockpot?
I don’t recommend preparing pasta recipes in the crock pot as the pasta often come out gummy and/or mushy. 💖
You’re my favorite for new recipes and recipes in a pinch! Thank you for sharing. Definitely a favorite!
I’m sooo happy to hear that Nichole, that is the ultimate compliment and I appreciate it so much!! 🙂 -Stephanie